This blog post will cover all the tasks needed to deploy the new SCCM Windows 10 22H2 Upgrade. We will cover scenarios for new and existing computers that you may want to upgrade. Microsoft published the Windows 10 22H2 feature update on VLSC on October 18th, 2022. Windows 10, version 22H2 is a scoped release focused on quality improvements to the overall Windows experience in existing feature areas such as quality, productivity, and security. Home and Pro editions of the 2022 Update will receive 18 months of servicing, and Enterprise and Education editions will have 30 months of service. You may also need to deploy Windows 10 22H2 to your existing Windows 10 computer to stay supported or to benefit from the new features. There are a couple of important changes in this release. Before deploying a new Windows 10 feature upgrade, you need to have a good plan. Test … Read More
SCCM Client Installation Error Codes
As an SCCM administrator, it’s important to learn the concept of troubleshooting a Configuration Manager client installation. By targeting the SCCM client installation error codes, you will have a better idea of what is happening during client installation. The error codes are not an exact science, they can defer depending on the situation. For a better understanding of ccmsetup error codes, read this great post from Jason Sandys. Client installation troubleshooting is probably your first challenge after an SCCM Installation. A better SCCM client installation rate equals better overall management. You want your SCCM non-client count to be as low as possible. These error codes appear in ccmsetup logs, located on the target machine – C:\windows\ccmsetup\logs. During the SCCM client installation process, monitor the ccmsetup.log using cmtrace.exe and locate each error code. There are other logs, to which the SCCM client installation relates. If you don’t find enough information in the ccmsetup.log, scan all related … Read More
How to use SCCM Dynamic Queries in your Deployment Collections
In this post, we will be looking at using SCCM dynamic queries to populate collections in our deployments. As an SCCM administrator, you most likely had to plan out mass deployments to all your servers or workstations or even both. How did you go ahead and populate your collections? Queries? Since the introduction of SCCM 2012, we now have a multitude of options, most notably: Direct membership Queries Include a collection Exclude a collection Chances are, if you are deploying new software to be part of a baseline for workstations (for example), you will also add it to your task sequence. In my past life, I must admit, I really did like queries. They can be such a powerful tool to populate your collections. I always was looking for ways to pimp the usual types of queries we use. For example, we developed a fabulous list of operational collections that we … Read More
How to enable SCCM Co-Management
With the release of SCCM 1710, one of the key new features is the SCCM Co-Management possibility with Microsoft Intune. Comanagement enables some interesting features like conditional access, remote actions with Intune, and provisioning using AutoPilot. You can decide which feature is managed by which platform (SCCM or Intune). This is great to slowly phase into Intune. There are two main paths to reach to co-management: Windows 10 and later devices managed by Configuration Manager and hybrid Azure AD joined get enrolled into Intune Windows 10 devices that are enrolled in Intune and then install with the Configuration Manager client We will describe how to enable co-management and enroll an SCCM-managed Windows 10 device into Intune. SCCM Co-Management Prerequisites SCCM 1710 or later Azure AD Subscription EMS or Intune license for all users Azure AD automatic enrollment enabled Following our blog post, only configure Azure AD. Do not follow instructions … Read More
Customize Windows Start Menu for SCCM Deployments
The reason to Customize Windows Start Menu is a must for any organization to deploy a standard workstation and remove any unwanted software from it. Sometimes Microsoft makes small changes under the hood and can hardly be tracked unless an issue comes up to flag those changes. The configuration of the Start Menu and Taskbar for Windows 10 has been since the beginning a great challenge for administrators and it doesn’t look that this will change anytime soon. Windows 11 which came out recently share the same mechanism as Windows 10 when it comes to the Start Menu thus, this post can be used for Windows 11. Microsoft added the following note to the start menu layout modification documentation after the 1703 release A simple note, with great implication! Following our previous posts on Windows 10 Customization and how to modify the taskbar configuration, we will detail how to configure … Read More
Create 148 Operational SCCM Collections using this Powershell Script
Using Powershell you can do many things in SCCM. Over the years, in many SCCM consulting projects we got involved in, we get the same question: “Can you create SCCM collections for Servers, Laptops, Workstations, Windows 10…”. Back in 2015, I started to build an SCCM collection PowerShell script to create SCCM operational collections which we create just after an SCCM installation. With time, I added more and more collections to the script. Fast forward to today, the script now contains 148 collections and has been downloaded more than 75 000 times making this PowerShell script my most downloaded contribution to the community. This set of collections usually covers 95% of the initial client needs. All you need to do is to run the SCCM collection PowerShell script on your SCCM server and wait. In about 5 minutes, you’ll end up having 148 collections in an Operational folder. The collections are set to … Read More
Identify Windows 10 and Windows 11 Build Numbers using SCCM / MEMCM
In an enterprise, it’s important to track your Windows 10 and Windows 11 Build Numbers. New build releases add new features, quality updates, and bug fixes. You may also need to identify the Windows version in a migration project or to plan your patch management deployments. This blog post will show you how to identify your Windows 11 build version and how to manage this information in SCCM / MEMCM. Windows 11 Version Naming and Revision Windows 10 version name is pretty simple: The first two (2) numbers are the release year. (Ex: 2022) The last two (2) characters are : The first half of the year – H1 The second part of the year – H2 For example, Windows 11 22H1 would mean that it was released in 2022 in the first half of the year. Where it gets more complicated is the Windows 11 revision or build number which is different … Read More
Step-by-Step SCCM 2207 Upgrade Guide
Microsoft has released the second SCCM version for 2022. SCCM 2207 has been released on April 8th, 2022. This post is a complete step-by-step SCCM 2207 upgrade guide, meaning that if you want to upgrade your existing SCCM/MEMCM installation to the latest SCCM/MEMCM updates, this post is for you. If you’re looking for a comprehensive SCCM installation guide to building a new server, refer to our blog series which covers it all. You won’t be able to install SCCM 2207 if you are running SCCM 2012. Well, that’s an odd phrase! Thank you current branch naming. SCCM 2207 is not a baseline version. This means that if you’re downloading the source from Volume Licensing, SCCM 2203 will be the starting version of your new SCCM site and you’ll need to apply SCCM 2207 on top of it. At the time of this writing, SCCM 2207 is available in the Early update … Read More
SCCM Remove Computer from Collection after OSD
This post is a step-by-step guide on how to remove computers from the collection after OSD. If you’re using specific collections for your OSD deployments you certainly know that the collections are not emptied automatically. After a couple of weeks, you’ll end up with a collection full of systems. The bad news is that there’s nothing built-in in the product, the good news is that our friend PowerShell can do this dirty job. To run the script : The imported module needs to be trusted The script must run in x86 mode The computer account must have proper permission (SCCM and DCOM) SCCM Remove Collection OSD – Permission You need to add your primary site computer account as a “Full Administrator” in SCCM You need to add the “System” account “Remote Access” right in DCOM permission Launch “dcomcnfg.exe” Navigate to Component Services / Computer / My Computers (Right-Click) / Properties … Read More
SCCM Console Access Denied problem
As an SCCM administrator, you use the SCCM console to access your primary site. Some of you may use the console locally on the SCCM server and some use the console on remote machines. Recently a customer ask for help because of an SCCM Console Access Denied problem. The SCCM console was working fine before and it was also working on another machine with the same user. I eventually found the solution and decided to document the whole troubleshooting process to fix SCCM Console Access Denied in this blog post. Step 1 – Troubleshooting on affected machine For any remote console troubleshooting issues, start with reading the SmsAdminUI.log file located on the client. This log file is located: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Endpoint Manager\AdminConsole\ AdminUILog In my example, you can see the error: Insufficient privilege to connect, error: Access is Denied. (Exception from HRRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)) Step 2- Understand the needed … Read More